Dingle's is very good.
Guy Hollingworth has a good handling in his book.
Jennings' "McJennings Aces" which I published in MAGIC is very good.
There are many handlings of this effect, which originated with Hofzinser in about 1850.

The key to getting good reaction from this trick is a very simple one. Always have the spectator put their hand on the aces throughout the performance. The reaction will double when the aces are revealed. I know that some remarkable performers have not followed this path but I do think in most cases it is to be recommended.

Richard is right. Even though the trick is credited to Mac Macdonald (who only had one arm) it was actually invented by Hofzinser and was known as "The Power of Faith"

I just recently read Dingle's version in Magicana. The version in Magicana is not the same handling found in Dingle's Complete Works. There's also a great write-up in Magicana on setting up for this effect from a full deck of cards. This desciption can be found in the first or second year after Kaufman took the reigns of Genii.

If you want an unusual approach and what is an excellent handling check out Jack Parkers The Three Stooges which appeared in Genii and also is in 52 Memories. I was one of the 'Stooges' when Jack showed this at The Session and smoked me and a room full of magicians, its a great hands-off handling that involves three people and allows them to do all the magic, and is typical of Jacks thinking.

I have used two different handlings for this trick. The first guy I saw do this routine was Bob Rath of WI. Later I worked out two different routines for this effect. I liked the first two ace productions but I did not like the last two ace productions in the original routine.

I found when performing this for lay people the first two ace productions were "stronger" than the last two ace productions. So I ended up working out two new ways of doing it that better suited my performing style.

I don't care what anyone says about his McDonald Aces. Chuck has the funniest comedy club act in magic. His curmudgeonly (grumpy old wombat) demeanour is hilarious and the peeked selections routine is a killer.

Cugel wrote:I don't care what anyone says about his McDonald Aces. Chuck has the funniest comedy club act in magic. His curmudgeonly (grumpy old wombat) demeanour is hilarious and the peeked selections routine is a killer.

I totally agree. He has that character down pat and he has a great act. I just don't know if I can forgive him for releasing that crappy lecture video.

Back in the early 80's myself and another two magicians were booked to do close-up magic nightly in a restaurant - . Each of us had McDonald's Aces in our repertoires. The maitre d' would introduce us at the tables and frequently watch our performances.

Over the six month time we were there, he figured out all our tricks, except McDonald's Aces.

does anyone do the Erdnase version with the Queens? The one that Ricky Jay does in his show? i made the cards and use that everytime i perform it, i know its not MacDonalds aces, but i use the same handling that i learned from the Dingle handling in genii, only with the patter from Erdnase...i feel it gives a reason to the trick, and the story when told right, pulls people in and gets them interested in the plot, and it becomes more of a performance piece than just a neat trick one can do...

i know the productions and vanishes are not from the book, i was just talking about the patter, i learned the way from the book but didnt like the way you had to lay the supposed queens face down, so when i saw the handleing Ricky Jay does, and realized its basically the same as the MacDonald aces, i quickly adjusted how i was doing it, and ended up using the Derek Dingle Handling of the Aces...

just out of curiosity, is there any place to get the Queens with indifferent backs, all of my double faced queens have two of the queens with indifferent backs, and then two of them have queens on the other side, Queen of hearts/Queen of clubs, Queen of clubs/Queen of Hearts...i have been making my own for the past few years but can not seem to find all four, or actually a full three queens with indifferent backs????

I have many, many wonderful tricks in my repertoire. However, I believe the strongest one I do is MacDonalds Aces. As I have mentioned repeatedly in the past you MUST get the spectator to put his hands on the ace pile. I am adamant about this. If you don't then you lose 50% of the reaction. And not only the reaction at the end of the trick. The reaction when they talk about it for days afterwards. You will hear time after time, "But my hands were on the cards!"

You are truly psychic. We cross posted at the same time that I was about to inform you that I had indeed been in touch with Hofzinser in the spirit world despite the language barrier. I was quite surprised he had learned English over there. He wishes me to inform you that he doesn't mind a bit if you use Queens. He tells me that he doesn't perform the trick any more so you are quite welcome.

He did say some very rude things about MacDonald though, stealing his trick and putting his name to it. He said the trick should be called "The Power of Faith" and will withdraw his permission if you ever attribute it to MacDonald again.

Oh, I often visit the other side. I must say Hofzinser was a very good talker. He did a couple of card tricks for me. His patter was amazingly brief and not long winded at all as was the fashion in those days. Some of the people around nowadays with their long winded chatter could learn a thing of two from him.

And yes, he wasn't keen on the long winded Erdnase chatter at all. And HE put his hand on the leader pile too!

The Hofzinser item(s) Power of Faith (uses jacks) and The Four Kings (uses kings) look like a good place to put the gaffed assembly credit. The latter has that line about a lady choosing her King. Working from the Fischer/Sharpe book.

This is an excerpt from the website, "Conjuring Credits.com, The Origins of Wonder"

Hofzinser/MacDonald Ace Assembly

In the mid-nineteenth century, Johann Hofzinser performed a strikingly similar plot to The MacDonald Ace Assembly as one phase of a larger routine called “A Power of Faith,” published in Ottokar Fischer's Kartenkünste, 1910, p. 69 of the Sharpe translation...The first trick of its kind to be published was Kaufmann's “Prepared Four Ace Trick” in Mahatma, Vol. 7 No. 11, May 1904, p. 125, six years before Hofzinser's material was released.

The first version of this trick in which each Ace was vanished from its packet in a different manner was by Ken Krenzel in M-U-M, Vol. 51 No. 3, Aug. 1962, p. 108, under the title “Those Extra Touches”.

Larry Jennings was the first to add a “backfire” coda, in “MacJennings Aces” from Genii, Vol. 62 No. 1, Jan. 1999, p. 39.